A record-breaking 381 coronavirus deaths have been announced in the UK today, taking the total to 1,789 fatalities.
It marks the darkest day so far for the NHS, which has seen patients dying by the dozen in hospitals in every corner of the country.
And the figure is more than twice as high as it was yesterday, when only 180 new fatalities were announced.
One of today’s victims was just 19 years old and didn’t have any other health conditions, making them the UK’s youngest otherwise-healthy patient to have died. They died at North Middlesex University Hospital in Enfield, London, MailOnline understands.
England is at the centre of Britain’s crisis and 1,651 people there have died after testing positive for COVID-19 in a hospital. Meanwhile more than 60 people have died in both Scotland and Wales, plus around 30 in Northern Ireland.
Today’s development comes after government statisticians revealed this morning that the true death toll may be 24 per cent higher when people who died outside of NHS hospitals are added in to the count.
The Office for National Statistics found that 210 people had died in the UK by March 20, when the Government had only record 170 in the same time frame – a difference of almost a quarter. If that ratio remains true today the true number of people dead could be 2,230 or more.
NHS officials today confirmed that the outbreak has grown so large that hospitals no longer have to wait for families’ consent to announce their relatives’ deaths, something they still had to do just weeks ago.
Other developments in the UK’s crisis include:
- Utility companies warned there is a risk staff shortages will lead to power cuts and have written to vulnerable customers to make sure they’re prepared
- Statistics have revealed the early coronavirus deaths in the UK were overwhelmingly elderly and male, with over-85s making up 47% of all fatalities
- Hundreds of shoppers sparked fury in Bristol after being spotted buying plants and headphones on leisurely shopping trips despite a Government lockdown
- Foreign NHS staff will receive automatic visa extensions from the Government to enable them to stay in the UK fighting the coronavirus outbreak
- London, Sheffield, Birmingham and Slough have the highest rates of coronavirus infections in the UK, per 100,000 people, according to official data
- NHS Blood and Transplant has said it is rejecting organ transplants from donors infected with the coronavirus
Medical staff are pictured wheeling a patient out of an ambulance at St Thomas’ Hospital in London today. The capital city, home to around nine million people, is at the centre of the UK’s crisis
Statistics released this morning revealed basic details about the first 108 people in Britain to have COVID-19 mentioned on their death certificate. Elderly people and men were the worst affected, the data showed
By March 20, the coronavirus had become a contributing factor or direct cause in one in every 100 deaths in the UK, according to the latest date from the Office for National Statistics
In its statement published this afternoon, NHS England said: ‘A further 367 people, who tested positive for the Coronavirus (Covid-19) have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in England to 1,651.
‘Patients were aged between 19 and 98 years old and all but 28 patients (aged between 19 and 91 years old) had underlying health conditions.’
Increases in positive tests today pushed the number of diagnosed coronavirus patients past 25,000 for the UK, including 1,993 in Scotland, 1,563 in Wales and 586 in Northern Ireland.
An update on the number of positive tests in England is expected from the Department of Health later this afternoon.
Experts believe the true number of people who have been infected with the coronavirus could now be more than two million, but the Government is only testing people ill enough to be admitted to hospital.
Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser to the Government, has said there could be around 1,000 cases for every one person who dies.
With a death count of 1,798, this could mean almost 1.8million people have been infected with the virus.
Sir Patrick, speaking at yesterday’s Government briefing, said the number of people being admitted to hospital with COVID-19 is going up ‘in a constant amount’.
The number of hospital patients has risen to around 9,000 from just 4,300 last Thursday.
But Sir Patrick assured the public the fact the NHS was seeing an additional 1,000 patients a day with coronavirus-related admissions was ‘not an acceleration’ and that the health service was still coping.
The new death figures come after a set of statistics this morning suggested the number of people dying could be 24 per cent higher than the NHS says.
Patients who had COVID-19 mentioned on their death certificates numbered 210 in England and Wales up to March 20, the Office for National Statistics revealed.
Sheffield and Slough are coronavirus hotspots in the UK, not far behind London which continues to speed ahead. London has 64 cases per 100,000 people, followed by Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, with 52 cases. Birmingham is third with 50 cases per 100,000, followed by Slough, a town in Berkshire, with 49 cases per 100,000
An ambulance is pictured outside the ExCeL conference centre in London, which has been converted into a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients
This was 24 per cent higher than the 170 deaths recorded by NHS England and Public Health Wales during the same time frame.
If the ratio has stayed true since that time, the true current number of fatalities could be around 1,739 instead of the official 1,408.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has launched a new data series adding in the numbers of people who have died with or after having COVID-19 in the community, including those who died in care homes or their own houses.
Coronavirus was not necessarily the cause of death for every one of the patients, but was believed to have been a factor.
The statistics show that only one of the UK’s first 108 coronavirus victims was under the age of 44. 60 per cent of them were men and 93 per cent were aged over 65.
The data does not include Scotland or Northern Ireland – up to March 20, eight people had died in the those countries (six in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland), suggesting the true figure could have been 10.
Anyone who has the virus – for which at least 22,141 people have tested positive in the UK – mentioned on their death certificate will be included in the weekly statistics.
This adds to the daily updates coming from NHS hospitals around the country where adults of all ages are dying in intensive care units.
It comes after it was revealed that King’s College Hospital in London has had three times as many deaths as official figures show and there are concerns the true figure is days or even weeks behind because of how long it takes to confirm cases.
In France, senior officials have admitted they expect their national count is wrong because of delays and unreported deaths happening outside of hospitals.
The ONS showed that a total 210 deaths in England and Wales that occurred up to and including March 20 (and which were registered up to March 25) had COVID-19 mentioned on the death certificate.
This compares with 170 coronavirus-related deaths reported by NHS England and Public Health Wales up to and including March 20.
The majority of the deaths reported by health authorities around the UK have taken place in the 10 days since March 20.
During that period the fatality total has risen almost 10-fold from 177 to 1,408.
While statistics have until now only counted people dying in NHS hospitals, new counts will show any death that medics link to the virus, wherever it happens.
Death tolls around the UK are expected to soar in the coming days and weeks as people who caught the virus before the country was put into lockdown succumb to the disease.
It can take up to three weeks before somebody is killed by COVID-19, suggesting there could be another fortnight before the effects of last Monday’s travel restrictions start to show.
It has been one week since Britons were told not to go outside unless it was necessary.
As well as a delay between people catching the virus and dying, there can also be lags between someone’s death and it being officially announced.
NHS staff have to test critically ill patients more than once to confirm they have the disease and must also notify their families.
Death statistics being shared by NHS hospitals have already shown time lags of 10 days or more.
